From April 2002, the Certificate of Entitlement (COE) Open Bidding System will fully replace the Closed Bidding System. The last closed bidding exercise for COEs will be in March 2002, from 1 March to 7 March 2002.

The Open Bidding System was developed in response to the recommendation of the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) of Communications in 1999 that such a system would provide a greater degree of transparency and better access to real time information for car buyers during the bidding exercise.

Under the Open Bidding System, two tender exercises will be held each month on alternate fortnights:

• The first exercise will start on the first Monday of the month at 9.00 am and end two days later on Wednesday at 4.00pm;
• The second exercise will start on the third Monday of the month at 9.00 am and end two days later on Wednesday at 4.00pm.

If a public holiday falls within the three-day bidding exercise, the bidding period would be extended accordingly. The monthly quota for each category will be divided equally for each exercise.

COE Open Bidding System

The COE Open Bidding System has provided a greater degree of transparency to the COE bidding exercise, by offering bidders better access to information on the prevailing bidding situation during the bidding process. The system has been implemented as a trial for more than six months since its launch in June 2001. During this trial period, the closed bidding exercise and the open bidding exercise were held on alternate fortnights.

The trial has allowed the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to test the COE Open Bidding System in a "live" setting, assess users’ behaviour and the possible impact on the system. Based on the last seven open bidding exercises, the COE Open Bidding System has proven to be robust, reliable, safe and secure. The LTA has also received feedback that the COE Open Bidding System is easy to use and provides useful information during the bidding process. The COE Open Bidding System has also resulted in less volatility in COE prices.

The LTA has therefore decided to replace the COE Closed Bidding System with the COE Open Bidding System.

The system of having two tender exercises a month will be retained as this gives bidders a shorter wait between bidding exercises.

Click here for the latest COE prices. For information on how to bid for a COE using the COE Open Bidding System, members of public can refer to the web-based user guide on www.lta.gov.sg or request for a copy of the instructional handbook by phoning 1800-CALL LTA (1800-225 5582). A copy of the handbook is also available from our customer service counters at 10 Sin Ming Drive.

Background

The Ministry of Transport (then Ministry of Communications) formed a Task Force in 1999 to look into the setting up and implementation of the COE Open Bidding trial. An LTA Working Group was also formed to work out the detailed mechanics and to manage the tenders and contracts for the setting up of the system.

In November 1999, the contract for the design and development of the on-line bidding system was awarded to Stratech Systems Pte Ltd. The first open bidding exercise was conducted in June 2001.

Under the COE Open Bidding System, bidders are able submit their bid for a COE, monitor the Current COE Price, enquire about their bid and revise the reserve price for their bids. The system provides bidders with real time information during the bidding exercise so that they could check the Current COE Price and use it as a reference when they submit or revise their bid.

In addition, bidders are able to make use of the following multiple channels to submit, enquire and revise their bids:

Upon submitting a bid, the bidder is required to pay a bid deposit. This is set at $200 for the motorcycle category (Category D) and $10,000 for all other vehicle categories. In addition, an administrative fee of $2 per bid is charged for each transaction – submission of bid or revision of reserve price.

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Last modified: Saturday May 02, 2009.

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